The past couple of mornings it's been downright chilly on the bike ride to work. The thermometer was reading 72 this morning and the highs are supposed to reach 82. That's about a 10 degree drop since our arrival in August and we should expect another 10 degree drop by January.

Seeing pictures of snow in the midwest and hearing people talk about curling up in front of the fireplace make me long to be cold. Four years ago come February I went to Ecuador with my lovely sister and one of the really nice things was to be hot during the winter. Winter that year seemed especially cold and dreary and I really appreciated being able to bake in the sunshine for a few days. Now I really want the opposite for awhile. I want to have an excuse to wrap myself up in wool and fleece. Christmas vacation will be a really nice break from the heat.

We went for a hike this morning and I was dressed in shorts and a tank top and still was hot and sweaty. You can guess where we went:

Monkey Mountain!

The mountain is very popular because it's so accessible and there's an extensive network of trails. We took a new route for our hike and saw what my have been a new view of the city. Unfortunately the smog is so bad you can't see anything.

The air isn't as bad as they say it is in Beijing but it's pretty bad. From what we've been told the air stays pretty much like this until spring. We really need to get out of the city on the weekends.

But this weekend Monkey Mountain will have to do. We saw some beautiful flowers,

and leaves that are bigger than leaves should be.

We also saw a path to Lovesickness Pavilion,

but that hike will have to wait for another day. Lee took a spill on our hike and we need to head to Costco to get his glasses repaired.